


Domino Effect

by savethelastslice



Series: This and That [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pizza Place, ChenJi's This and That, Crossdressing, Domino episode, Fluff and Crack, Humor, Jisung Park is everyone's son, cause i needed jisung to drive, lots of pizza!, mistaken identity because why not, side markhyuck, slightly aged up characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23215948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savethelastslice/pseuds/savethelastslice
Summary: Pizza: warm on his palm, cheese melted just so, scent wafting deliciously with the evening breeze because Donghyuck is, surprisingly, actually a good cook.Doorbell: rung.Dress: polka dotted, kinched in tightly to give the barest possibility of a waist, skirt fluttering dangerously high up against his thigh.Or: like most things in life, Jisung is sure this is all Donghyuck's fault. Featuring fake Domino's pizza, a lost shoe, Jisung's lists of the things he knows about Chenle split into blocks of ten, and eating bell peppers raw.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Series: This and That [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1510010
Comments: 22
Kudos: 142





	Domino Effect

Pizza: warm on his palm, cheese melted just so, scent wafting deliciously with the evening breeze because Donghyuck is, surprisingly, actually a good cook. 

Doorbell: rung. 

Jisung: standing in front of the house of said doorbell shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot in anticipation of 5 minutes of impending social interaction.

Dress: polka dotted, kinched in tightly to give the barest possibility of a waist, skirt fluttering dangerously high up against his thigh. 

Let’s see, what else - oh, house: standing larger than the Lotte World Tower.

Jisung takes a moment of silence to appreciate the package life has just handed to him with the self-deprecating smile of the soon-to-be-deceased. Then his wavering sense of professionalism kicks in and he knocks twice on the door. “Pizza for Lucas!”

Most of him is hoping the owner of the house - with his luck, probably some pervy middle-aged guy who spends twenty-two hours a day watching hentai - isn’t around. But alas the clock ticks on and, in response to the ongoing silence, Jisung rings the doorbell again. 

There are many obvious reasons for this wishing. First is the obvious safety risk. Second is the threat of inevitable embarrassment should said customer not be of the above profile and instead be of the young, dashing variety. Third is that Jisung would very much rather be shoving this pizza down his throat, thank you very much, it’s past ten and dinner was four hours ago, a hastily eaten taco before his shift.

(That the third reason isn’t top priority is a big red sign saying this is a Bad Idea.)

Jisung is just about to give up, maybe pay for the pizza from his own money, when hears the sound of footsteps coming nearer to the door with a _coming!_. The voice is decidedly male. The footsteps are decidedly heavy. Today is decidedly not his day. 

Jisung kind of hates that Mark had to be off tonight. The blame lasts for maybe half a second because like most things in his life, Jisung is quite sure this is all Donghyuck’s fault.

A mysterious scrabbling sound filters through the door. There’s something else too. Jisung leans forward unconsciously to hear better. It sounds like, huh, whispering? No, it’s too regular for that and - ah shit, it’s panting.

Just as Jisung’s weighing the pros and cons of bailing on this job because this was such a bad idea, why did he ever agree to go along with Lee Donghyuck, the door swings open so hard the sudden gust of wind makes Jisung’s wig wobble dangerously.

Jisung looks up. 

The first thought Jisung has is that this guy is freaking tall. He’s also actually pretty, like, really pretty, though pity he’s not Jisung’s type. The second thought he has is that this guy is completely wasted. Jisung gulps, then shoves the pizza at the guy with both hands. It hits him square in the chest and he looks up with a burp and wow, those are some huge eyes. Drunk guy blinks at him for a moment before his mouth splits into a wide grin and wow, that’s a really big mouth.

“ _What a pweeeeettyyyy delivery girl!_ ” Drunk guy makes gimme gimme hands at the pizza and just about completely fails to get a grip on the box. Or his sense of balance. Jisung thinks he’s going to fall down any time. “I asked for pweetty but I didn’t expect this pweeeeeetty!!!”

Mutely, Jisung stares. He hears drunk guy say “So, why haven’t I seen you around here before?”, leaning forward, and the inevitable happens. Drunk guy tries to prop his face on his elbow with the nearest horizontal surface. It just happens that said nearest horizontal surface is a cardboard box that is only held up by Jisung’s two hands, which have subconsciously tightened their grip as realisation started to dawn on Jisung that it was highly likely he wasn’t getting his money for this. 

And you know what they say: No money, no pizza.

Jisung is so not going to repeat that one time in March with that one girl. He clings on for dear life.

Which is how they end up in this position: Drunk Guy face planted on the steps to the frankly ridiculously decked out house using the cardboard box as a pillow, Jisung still holding on, triple deluxe pizza sadly half-spilled on the marble. It takes exactly one (1) small gust of wind for Jisung to appreciate the unique problem he’s currently facing in this position of distinct height difference.

It’s a sight that would make Mark weep. Jisung’s suddenly glad that he’s not working today.

Just as Jisung manages to pry his fingers off the box to rearrange his skirt, there’s a jacket being draped over him. The cloth is soft under his fingers and Jisung snaps his head up, one side of his ponytails smacking him square on the nose.

A boy walks into view. Underneath the porch lights, his light brown hair shimmers almost gold. His face is arranged in an expression of disgust as he kicks Drunk Guy in the leg, CVS plastic bag swinging with the movement. “What the hell, Yukhei hyung, you’re such an asshole when you’re drunk.”

Then he turns to face Jisung and oh. No. Oh no. Jisung feels all the blood drain from his face instantaneously.

He’s _really_ going to kill Donghyuck when he gets back.

“Hey, I’m so sorry on behalf of my cousin. I promise he’s not trying to be creepy, he’s just overly affectionate and it gets a bit much when he’s drunk -”

And Jisung’s running down the path as fast as his high heels would let him. He nearly breaks an ankle skidding the corner and one shoe slides out completely but nothing can stop him from getting his ass out of there, stat.

_This must be how pirates sound,_ he finds himself thinking almost hysterically over the _clack-bam-clack-bam_ of his footsteps.

Nearby, he hears a voice call out his name. He’d recognise that voice anywhere. He runs towards it. Donghyuck is parked by the pavement on the pizza delivery motorcycle Jisung had decided against taking with him down the two streets it would take to get to this house. 

When they make eye contact, Donghyuck immediately starts on his spiel. “I messed up, I’m sorry, that was legitimately dangerous and Mark hyung gave me hell over the phone then I realised that creepy guys who do nothing but watch hentai exist and I came to get you and I’m sorry?”

Jisung leaps onto the back of the motorcycle behind him so hard he feels it in his kidneys. Swiping strands of fake hair off his face that got stuck on his sweat he gasps out, “ _Floor it_ ,” and Donghyuck does.

The worst thing about the pizza place, Jisung decides early on in his career, is its name. By early he means the literal moment he starts his first shift, which says a lot about how bad it is.

“It’s ‘Domino Pizza’, singular, to represent and celebrate the very first piece that gets knocked over to create the chain reaction. It represents ground zero. It is where the most important events take place. The start. The alpha. Pizza la vida, baby,” Johnny says by means of explanation.

“He really just ripped of Domino’s,” Mark says by means of revealing the painfully obvious truth of his cousin’s brainchild.

“He’s full of shit,” Donghyuck says by means of voicing his opinion.

Jisung squints at him like he wasn’t the one who had showed up to his job interview as Dongsook, all red polka-dotted dress and brown wig with two pigtails, which he then proceeded to whip off to reveal a flat chest (which was blessedly clothed) screaming about how they would have totally not hired him if he were a girl because men perceived women as inherently less capable, requiring higher qualifications to get positions less qualified men got easily, which was why feminism is a much needed social movement of today.

Mark’s pen had fallen out of his mouth. Johnny’s chair had tipped over backwards and he had fallen, sprawled, on the tiles. It would later be clarified that Johnny would have given the position to anyone willing to make pizzas in this dump of a shop and he couldn’t care less about Donghyuck’s gender as long as the pizzas were edible. Which they were.

It would also later be clarified that Donghyuck had been doing it to make a statement to Mark.

“Me?” Mark would blink at him. “Why me?”

Donghyuck had looked him right in the eye and listed off every single girl in their college Mark had made cry. It was quite a long list. When he was quite done, Mark’s jaw was hanging open again.

“I, I -” 

“You made my cousin cry, you piece of shit, I can’t believe I ever thought your cute face was worth it. Turns out you’re a sexist asshole like the rest of them.”

Johnny had coughed. Explained the real reason why. There had been a lengthy silence, broken by a pink faced Mark. “You - you think I’m cute?”

And that, as they say, was that.

Jisung would later label that moment as the start of a particularly shitty romcom. Mark would later pinpoint that as the moment he had known Donghyuck was The One, that there would never be anyone that came close to him in his lifetime. And he could make pizzas! What better trait in a human being? 

Johnny would later pinpoint that as the moment he knew he could slack on the pizza business and go do...whatever other business thing he was doing on the side because Donghyuck being there also meant that Mark would want to be there, and he could be bribed with minimum wage to do his university homework in the shop while functioning as executive manager.

Jisung would also later pinpoint this as the first in a long sequence of events that meant that when Domino Pizza had gotten an order with a special request of ‘send your cutest delivery girl ;)’, there would be a dress, wig, and heels stashed in the back cupboard. 

“I don’t know,” Johnny says the next morning. “Sounds like you agreed to go along with it.”

Jisung fixes him with a disbelieving look. He’s in Johnny’s office, one ankle still throbbing slightly from the way the heel had buckled the night before. “Pizza, doorbell, me, dress, house. One of these things is not like the other. Tell me which one doesn’t belong with the others, Johnny hyung.”

Johnny taps his pen on his chin thoughtfully. “I’m thinking staff tasers are a good idea, come to think of it. If anything happened to Mark’s pretty face my mom would never let me live.”

“Hyung, please.”

“Huh? Oh yeah I - hold on. Are you telling me -” Johnny’s eyes narrow as he sits up, leaning over the table in rapt attention and validation rises sweetly in Jisung’s chest. “A house? In this district? Holy shit, are you telling me that rich people are buying our pizzas?”

Validation crashes and burns in Jisung’s stomach. 

Mark is kind enough to find him an antacid later on. But he also pats Jisung’s head as he downs the pill with a glass of water and says mildly, “Donghyuck’s an idiot but you probably shouldn’t have agreed, though.”

Jisung chokes on his water.

 _Ask him about the shoe!_ Donghyuck’s hisses from behind the glass wall of the ingredient counter.

Mark hums and does a fantastic job of ignoring him. “Donghyuckie is also quite distressed about the loss of his shoe.”

“Damn his shoe,” Jisung sputters out.

“There there,” Mark comforts and rubs Jisung’s back as he slowly gains control of his lungs. A warm trickle of water finally comes out of his nose with a sharp pain and he can breathe again. “Was it really so bad in the end? There was the second guy who apologised, right?”

“That’s the literal worst part,” Jisung sobs. “Mark hyung, please hold me.”

 _I bet he was really hot,_ Donghyuck is grumbling. He’s stopped flailing around and settled down on a stool, having gotten his message across. There again, he probably didn’t need Mark to convey it since the glass was nowhere near thick enough to be soundproof. _Though he’ll never be as hot as my Markiepoo. My Markgeolli. He who is Marked in my heart._

Mark has the grace to blush bright red.

Jisung keeps a numbered list of the customers he never wants to see. If he does, he’s made a promise with himself that he’ll quit. On the list are the usual suspects: drunk college frat kids who puke on him, fifty-something-year-old guys who watch hentai for upwards of 22 hours a day, any naked person or peoples, serial killers, et cetera.

None of them have made it to the top position in the list. There is only one person.

Mark frowns when Jisung pulls it out of his locker to wave around wildly. Donghyuck watches with mild interest from his station. “You realise the chances of that happening is a lot rarer than accidentally walking in on someone having sex?”

“Exactly! It’s literally one in over nine million, which is why yesterday had to be a complete set up.”

It’s highly possible. In fact, the more Jisung thinks about it, the more probable. Johnny had been out (what’s new), Mark had taken the night off to have dinner with his grandparents who were visiting from Canada, and without Donghyuck making pizzas they’d have nothing to sell. That left Jisung as the delivery boy. Girl, in this case.

It was all very logical, really.

Logical that it’s all Donghyuck’s fault, that is.

“Zhong Chenle?” Mark’s eyebrows disappear into his fringe.

 _Zhong Chenle,_ Johnny confirms. He’s joined Donghyuck behind the screen where a stray mozzarella stick has mysteriously ended up in his hands. It’s getting harder for Mark and Jisung to pretend they aren’t around. Jisung manages to refocus on what Mark’s saying, resisting the urge to break the fourth wall and also the glass screen to strangle Donghyuck. He knows what’s under Johnny’s oversized sweatshirt. Johnny needs a pizza chef more than a delivery boy. He’s not taking his chances.

“Zhong Chenle,” Mark is repeating, half to himself. “I know him, I used to tutor him last year. We still hang out now and then but he hasn’t been replying to my messages for a while now, I wonder why. How do you know him, Jisung? Jisung!” 

Too late, Jisung is Officially Gone.

Here’s the thing - Jisung knows Chenle doesn’t belong within 5 feet of the rest of the types of people on his list. Not the perverts who are all too keen for innocent minimum wage workers to see them in action, not the assholes who argue about the price of the pizza and slam the door on you refusing to pay after taking the pizza with them.

Here’s the other problem: Jisung doesn’t exactly know Chenle. But he really wants to.

“Knew he was hot,” Donghyuck says around a mouthful of pepperoni. One pepperoni for the pizza, one for his mouth. One more for the pizza, another one for him, and one for Jisung while he’s at it.

Jisung perches on the kitchen stool watching Donghyuck work. He absently wonders how Johnny manages to keep the place open. It doesn’t stop him from obediently opening his mouth whenever a stray pepperoni accidentally-on-purpose wanders too near. His other businesses are probably pretty profitable. Johnny’s weirdly secretive about it. Donghyuck thinks there’s a high chance he’s involved with the mafia or something. Jisung’s convinced he deals weed.

Donghyuck elbows Jisung in the ribs. “So, who’s this Chenle guy?”

Jisung’s mind pulls out his folder on Chenle. It’s organised and in bullet points, very convenient, so he makes his way down some of the list.

1\. Chenle’s full name is Zhong Chenle. 

2\. He’s about 5 foot 8, skinny build.

3\. He’s three months older than Jisung but still his hyung.

4\. Chenle is double majoring in business and economics because he’s expected to take over his parent’s business. 

5\. Chenle likes basketball. His position in the varsity team and extensive collection of jerseys says it all.

6\. Chenle likes bubble tea. He has a keychain hanging off his schoolbag. It’s filled with brown water, with plastic black pearls floating inside whenever he walks.

7\. There’s a bubble tea shop with the same name as him, and Jisung sees him there every Thursday afternoon after school, when there’s no basketball practice.

8\. Chenle likes to dye his hair. Currently it’s a very fetching shade of hazel brown, but Jisung likes the time it was bright orange most.

9\. Chenle laughs like a dolphin whenever he’s particularly excited. Somehow, even if it’s in the local library and Jisung’s trying to study, it doesn’t phase him when he hears his laughter bubble up for a while before being abruptly muffled. It’s like he’s so full of joy he can’t contain it no matter how hard he tries. 

10\. He always looks really embarrassed after he laughs in public. Jisung thinks it’s adorable.

Donghyuck’s staring holes into Jisung’s face, pizza dough cold and forgotten on the table. “Wow,” he eventually says. “You’re such a stalker.”

Jisung tilts up his head defiantly. “I’m not the one who knew Mark hyung’s phone number two months before meeting him.”

Donghyuck throws a blob of cold pizza dough at him.

Here are 10 more things Jisung knows about Chenle:

1\. Chenle loves kimchi. Jeno says he always asks for an extra helping in the cafeteria.

2\. Chenle is rich. Not rich like Jaemin rich where he throws parties at his house for half the college monthly with money that comes from quarter of his allowance alone, but rich as in could easily buy an island rich. Could probably buy a private jet and build a hotel resort casually as well. Just cause. Case in point one: Jaemin saw him carrying a Jackie crocodile Gucci bag to school once, and while Jisung can’t tell a Birkin from a Kelly, if it makes Jaemin’s eyes bulge it must be pretty expensive. Case in point two: his actual house, that Jisung has laid his actual eyes on, with an actual walkway from the gate to the front door.

3\. Chenle’s family is from China. Jisung knows because he walked past him on the street once and heard him speaking in rapid-fire Mandarin into his phone. Jisung also knows it’s because of this that he’s the darling of the Chinese takeout place on campus (to Jeno’s eternal dismay) and gets extra chicken every time. 

4\. Chenle is generous. He shares the extra chicken with Jeno if they happen to have physics class that day. Once he’d shoved an entire box of pork ribs to Jeno to bring home. Jeno hadn’t shared it with Jisung, opting to halve the box with a delighted Na Jaemin instead but no worries, there was nothing going on between them, the traitor. Jisung thinks they still think him the same small child who thought the cheese touch was a thing. Jokes on them, he knows what they’re up to more than they do themselves.

5\. Chenle can shoot. He knows no one in his year dares to go against him at laser tag because he has a penchant for sniping them when they think he’s nowhere near. Jisung also knows that conversely, everyone wants Chenle on their team for laser tag.

6\. Chenle can sing. Everybody knows this because:

7\. Chenle was a child star. He has vocal classes in the same academy Jisung attends for dance, and pictures of him when he was still below 4 feet tall are proudly pinned up next to polaroids of him with various vocal coaches who drop by for masterclasses.

8\. He participated in a Korean charity concert when he was 8. It was a year end concert at Seoul Arts Centre, and afterwards he took a picture with Yoo Jaesook. The picture can still be found with a quick search on Naver. Chenle’s wearing traditional Chinese dress.

9\. Chenle is kind, cross referenced to the pizza incident. Which brings Jisung to his last and final point.

10\. Chenle is way, way out of his league. 

Jisung has fantasised alright - him, then an awkward and gawky senior in high school and Chenle, the dashing freshman meeting at the boba store. Maybe Chenle would look at him, think he’s cute, remember his own time in high school and buy him a drink to encourage him before major examinations. Their hands would meet as Chenle passed him the cup (matcha bubble tea, 50% ice, 25% sugar because he’d just _know_ ) because Jisung’s fingers are long. He’d take a sip while Chenle asks him for his number, then he’d choke on the pearl because he’s a complete klutz and _Zhong Chenle just asked him for his number_ , and Chenle would have to call an ambulance but it’d be too late and ah shit, just make it stop, -

And Jisung’ll melt into a miserable puddle of goo from second-hand embarrassment wherever he is. Though does it count as second-hand embarrassment if you’re embarrassed of a made-up version of yourself?

This has happened maybe once a week until now, when he’s finally graduated from high school. He thought the glass barrier between him and Chenle made of the mysticism of university and maturity would have disappeared. It hasn’t. He’s as distant as before. 

This is all due to one very glaring fundamental problem. They’re in different years. They’re in different majors. The dance building is way across campus from the Business block. They don’t have any common classes, and despite their common friends (Jaemin, Jeno, apparently Mark and so, probably Donghyuck), they’ve never met.

In short: Chenle doesn’t know Jisung exists.

Jisung pauses here and takes a deep breath from his ranting, and Mark’s staring at him the same way Donghyuck had two days before. They’re having a rare moment to themselves, Donghyuck having pinched the motorcycle keys from Jisung with a “I’m taking this delivery, bye bitches, watch the phone for me okay,” and leaving. 

Mark.exe gradually boots up again. “Jisung, you’ve been keeping that all bottled up?”

“Kind of.”

“And you’ve never even met him?”

“I have,” Jisung says defensively. “We met once on campus.”

Mark tilts his head. “What happened then?”

What happened was the first day of classes. Jisung was trying to find the lecture hall for his sociology 101 class but, because no university town can have an actually navigable layout, spent ten minutes running around in circles. Thankfully his mom hadn’t raised a bum and he was early enough to still be on time if he found the lecture hall at that exact moment.

He was just running into a clearing when he had heard a shriek together with the sound of something like a rain stick. Jisung saw it the moment he peeked around the corner. A boy in a grey hoodie and sweats sitting in the middle of an intricate domino setup. Which was currently falling over. The boy himself had also fallen over trying to scrabble at the falling pieces to stop them.

Jisung’s instincts had kicked in then - from playing with dominos as a child but more recently from Mark entering the shop kitchen on days it was actually busy - and he had kicked away a section and stopped the chain.

The boy had looked up in open mouth shock. Jisung had felt chills up and down his entire being and so he did what anybody would do in that situation. He had bolted.

It takes a solid minute for Mark to say something. “That’s not what people would do in that situation, Jisung-ah.”

“Don’t rub it in, hyung,” Jisung pleads.

“I’m sure he knew you were trying to help -”

“Hyung.”

“Fine. But didn’t you also perform in some charity concert in Seoul when you were younger? I swear Jaemin has that picture of you in hanbok as his home screen.”

Jisung observes his right to remain silent. Mark frowns. “Okay whatever. One last thing - if you’ve never met, how’d you know all these things about Chenle?”

“Hearsay, observation, Na Jaemin, Na Jaemin,” Jisung dutifully recites. “And also from Na Jaemin.”

“Na Jaemin.” Mark hums in understanding. “Really though, other than that one time, have you ever met Chenle?”

Jisung doesn’t answer.

Park Jisung was not moping.

It has been exactly 14 days since the fateful incident, or two weeks, or 840 hours, but who was keeping track? Not him, that’s to be sure.

Two entire weeks of going about life, attending lectures. With every sound of footsteps Jisung’s ears would perk up, and every time he thought he’d caught sight of Chenle’s winter jacket or light brown hair in campus he’d feel his eyes seeking whoever it was out, just to make sure. It never was, though.

So yeah, totally not moping.

Johnny hums as he snaps a binder shut. He even removes his feet from the table to better stare Jisung down. “Kid, stop moping.”

Jisung fixes him with a blank stare. Johnny holds his gaze without flinching, raising an eyebrow challengingly. It’s a powerful eyebrow, could almost beat Donghyuck’s. Almost. But almost beating Donghyuck means Jisung doesn’t have a chance.

“I’m not moping,” Jisung finally says. What can he say, his eyebrow game is weak. He can’t even raise an eyebrow, how can he compete in battle for dominance and for Chenle’s heart?

“Kid, I’m here like maybe three times a week and even I can tell you’re moping,” Johnny says. “I heard what happened and honestly? It’s not that bad.”

“It was really bad, hyung,” Jisung says from the table where his cheek has been permanently grafted. 

Johnny raises his hands in surrender. “I get it. You wanted to make a good impression. But think about it -” he counts off on his fingers - “One, maybe Chenle thinks you’re a girl. Two, maybe Chenle thinks you’re a guy dressed up as a girl. So what? One, he won’t recognise you and it’ll be like you’re meeting for the first time. Two, if he’s the kind of guy who gives drag queens shit I say he’s not worth dating.”

Jisung squints up at Johnny. He wonders how he managed to neglect a whole ton of options between one to two, including the very real possibility that Chenle recognised him from way back then. A memory of two boys running in a hotel lobby in traditional dress comes to mind and his heart squeezes.

He hadn’t been able to speak Chinese, Chenle hadn’t been able to speak Korean. Just a few words of English and phrases from the other’s language here and there, but they had been inseparable. Until Chenle had to go back home after the stage.

“Music was just a hobby,” his teacher had told him when he’d asked if Chenle would come back again. “I don’t think so.” 

It was a real possibility, Chenle recognising him - his aunts and uncles always say he looks the same as when he was a baby. Those hours in the dance studio didn’t give him a lot of time to spend with people his age and, as quiet as he is, he’s not the kind to seek them out, either. He just hasn’t had that much practice in not being awkward. He isn’t a child anymore where charm comes easy. Jisung feels his heart sink as he realises - to him, this is the worst possible scenario.

Johnny’s giving him a look he can’t quite place. “Jisung, I’m not the kind who usually does this but if you stop moping, I’ll let you hit the good stuff.”

Instantly Jisung shoots up, eyes going wide. “You actually sell weed?”

For that he’s scuffed over the head as Johnny stands up. “No, dumbass. That’s illegal. I meant accessing the ingredients station. We can’t let Donghyuck have all the fun, can we?”

The door slams open. Donghyuck looks imperiously down at Jisung. “I hear a plot to overthrow the king?”

“You’ve got to stop opening doors before knocking,” Johnny grumbles.

“I’ll stop when you two stop.”

Jisung’s gaze shoots from Johnny to Donghyuck, deeply offended. “I have, ever since I saw you and Mark hyung -”

“Don’t.” Johnny looks like he’s about to be sick. “I don’t want to know anything that I have to pretend to health inspectors that I don’t.”

Donghyuck snorts.

“Anyway, Jisung, why don’t we try pizza making another day? Looks like you’ve got work to do.”

Jisung's gaze follows Johnny's to where Donghyuck is holding up two large cardboard boxes. His face falls. “That's right, Jisungie, I’m still irreplaceable for now. Urgent orders so get there fast, mmkay?” 

Alarmed, Jisung scrambles out of his seat in time for Donghyuck to deposit them into his arms. He didn’t even hear the telephone ring. He really has got to stop moping around, it’s clearly bad for his ears. 

There’s a firm knock on the door and Mark enters the room. “Hyuckie, I -”

His words are knocked out of him by Johnny crashing straight into him. “At least my own cousin appreciates the sanctity of my office. You’re the only one who knocks, Mark, I knew I could rely on you, my brother from another father. My baby from another lady. Our blood runs thick. Viva la familia.”

Jisung’s jaw drops. Then he closes it. He starts walking off, shaking his head because he doesn’t know why he bothers, honestly. He stops short as his mind replays a certain scene in his head that he’s quite, _quite_ sure he’s repressed together with other unspeakable memories and wonders if it’ll hurt less to just gouge out his eyeballs instead.

He’s still grumbling as he pulls the motorcycle to the side of the road. Hopping off the seat, Jisung grabs one of the two extra large pizzas from the back and stares up at the university apartment in front of him. He thinks it looks like it could be Mark’s dorm. But there again, he’s still at that stage of freshman year when he thinks all the apartments look the same. With a shrug, he squints at Donghyuck’s shitty handwriting and ascends the stairs.

He raps loudly on the door twice. The doorbell button’s suspiciously brown and he doesn’t want to know what that white thing crusting at the corner is. He’s willing to bet it smells as bad as it looks. 

Not long after, Jisung hears the sound of footsteps approaching. He squares his shoulders as the door swings open.

“One meat lover’s pizza for Wong Yukh- _khaaaaaaaaak._ ”

Drunk Guy - who’s looking decidedly un-drunk and extremely concerned - blinks as Jisung chokes on his saliva so violently his vision blacks out for a while. The next thing he knows is the pizza’s being taken away from him (thank goodness for that, he’s quite sure he’s going to crush it at this rate) and Jisung is being thumped on the back, hard.

A blob of thick saliva flies out of Jisung’s mouth and suddenly he can breathe again. He takes a gasping breath. Oxygen has never tasted so sweet, surely. He’d have noticed it by now.

 _You thought baguettes could be bought at 3 in the morning!_ The astral-projection of Jaemin yells at him. _You don’t notice anything._

Then a thought hits his oxygen-deprived brain: those are Mark’s sneakers, the white ones hovering on the fuzzy edges of his oxygen-deprived vision. This is Mark’s apartment. The one he shares with a roommate who’s been pining about some tall, handsome Chinese guy for weeks.

Then: Donghyuck had _willingly_ done a delivery the other day even though Mark had been at work. He doesn’t remember the phone having rung then.

Then: he was right, the phone hadn’t rung earlier either. 

Finally: There were two pizzas in his motorcycle and he hasn’t seen the second address yet.

“Move it, Xuxi.” Another voice sounds out. A glass of water is being pushed into Jisung’s hands. “Jisung-ah, it’s Renjun. Drink some water.”

Ah, Jisung thinks. Crap.

Pizza: unwillingly balanced on his left palm. Today it’s the vegetarian special and the smell of the mushrooms is less strong than the meat they use for sausage, so Jisung doesn’t even have the comfort of that familiar scent. 

Doorbell: not yet rung. 

Jisung: standing in front of the house of said doorbell shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot in complete, utter dread.

Dress: black hoodie and black track pants with a black hat. White shoes.

Let’s see, what else - oh, this is completely, absolutely the fault of one Lee Donghyuck. And probably Mark Lee and Seo Johnny. They’re all terrible, terrible people. He just had a phone call which proved it because, just as he was getting on his bike intent on getting the second pizza into a nearby trash bin as fast as he could, his ringtone had started blaring.

Before picking up, Jisund had cast suspicious glances around. The timing was just too good. They had to be watching him, right?

“Hello?”

“Jisung Park, don’t you dare come back without delivering the pizza!” A voice that had to be Donghyuck had screeched down the line. “Johnny hyung said he’ll fire you if you do!”

Genuine panic had started to rise in his chest. “He wouldn’t.”

“Sorry, Jisung-ah,” Mark’s apologetic voice had filtered down. “Just go okay, it’s for your own good. Really.”

There had been a crackle at the end of the line. “Jisung, this is Johnny. Donghyuck’s right, I’ll fire you if you don’t deliver the pizza to a waiting customer.”

Jisung had started to feel dizzy. There was no way this was happening. He was a good employee, if his parents found out he’d been fired they’d be so sad…although. “Did Chenle even order a pizza?” 

Silence over the line. “Just remember to get my shoe back!” Donghyuck had cried before disconnecting the line.

So there Jisung is. Trying his best to glare the pizza into non-existence. It’s currently defying him and continuing to gently give off steam with a faint aroma of bell peppers, and Jisung feels so betrayed because he likes bell peppers. Sometimes he eats them whole like an apple.

Donghyuck thinks it’s disgusting. He started a petition for Jisung not to do that in the staff pantry. It’s got a total of five signatures, one from him and one from Johnny, and three more from goodness knows where. Probably Jaemin and Jeno, actually. They don’t even work there.

Damn this. Jisung presses the doorbell and coaxes out the slivers of his professionalism that have curled up in a tight ball. When the door opens, he doesn’t hesitate. “One vegetarian special for Zhong Chenle.”

Chenle grins. He’s in a simple white shirt and basketball shorts. If you saw him walking along the streets you’d never guess he was the son of a gigantic Chinese conglomerate. “Ah, Jisung right? Donghyuck hyung told me you’d be dropping by.” He fishes around in his wallet and hands Jisung a wad of notes. “You know, for a pizza delivery place I’m constantly surprised whenever your pizzas show up at my door. I always thought they should be expected.”

Jisung blinks. “If you have any complaints for the company, it’s all Donghyuck hyung’s fault.”

“Of course it is,” the other boy snorts. “Oh, speaking of Donghyuck hyung - “ Chenle disappears back into the house but quickly comes back with a paper bag. “I’ve got something for you.”

Jisung reaches over to take the bag. Peering inside, he sees a familiar red silhouette. His ears burn pink.

“You knew it was me?” Jisung asks numbly.

“Of course,” Chenle says. “Mark hyung told me it was all guys in his workplace. He neglected to mention that his workplace’s name is a ripoff of another pizza chain. You have no idea how many times I’ve eaten Domino’s these two weeks just to try and see you.”

“You could have asked,” Jisung points out. “Mark hyung says you haven’t been replying to his messages.”

“That,” Chenle starts guiltily. “I kind of, uh. Broke my phone and lost all my contacts. And don’t even get me started on google, Korean words one alphabet apart are quite hard to distinguish.”

Jisung nods. “Ah.”

“You could have stayed, you know.” Chenle says, voice soft, studying his reaction. “We could have eaten pizza together to spite Donghyuck hyung for his dumb ideas. I’ve no idea why Mark hyung likes him, honestly.”

“He’s not all bad,” Jisung mumbles. “Just most of the time.”

“True.” Chenle laughs before nodding appraisingly. “He got you in those, after all.”

“Huh?”

Chenle tilts his head, a soft smile on his lips. “I’m sure you must know. You were adorable when we were kids in your hanbok - “ Jisung’s breath hitches - “and you’re plenty cute now. But in those heels?” Chenle throws him a wink. “You were killer.”

Jisung can only blink and try his hardest not to self combust because Chenle remembers him, and now he’s not the only weird one who remembers a promise from so long ago, right?

There is a moment of bliss. The rest of Chenle’s words filter through Jisung’s consciousness and he stills because holy shit.

Chenle’s inspecting the pizza, oblivious to Jisung’s implosion. “Ooh, bell peppers! The best pizza topping hands down, but they taste even better when you eat the whole pepper raw, don’t you think?”

Jisung stares. He thinks he’s in love.

“And that’s the story of how Jisung turned into the worst modern rendition of Cinderella I’ve ever heard,” Donghyuck is saying.

Jisung glares at him over the ingredients counter. “Why do you do this to me.” He sweeps his glare over to Jaemin and Jeno who are sitting happily at one of the few tables in the store where they settled after barging into the kitchen. “And Jaemin hyung, Jeno hyung, why are you both here?”

“Because we wouldn’t want to miss our son’s milestone, isn’t that right dear?” Jaemin fake cries into his handkerchief, tugging on Jeno’s sleeve. Jeno nods along looking way too happy. 

“He’s coming over any minute, can you both please -”

“You know Jisungie, if you wanted to make friends with Chenle you could have just asked us any time to set you up!”

“No offence, Jaemin, but your idea of setting someone up involves copious alcohol and hip grinding. Both of which,” Mark shoots Jisung a warning look. “Are inappropriate for minors.”

“But he’s nineteen -”

“Twenty,” corrects Jisung hotly.

“Jeno, Jeno dear, did you hear that, Jisungie is _twenty_ already, hold me -”

“Who is what now?”

Five pairs of eyes swivel to see Chenle standing at the threshold of the shop. In the moment of silence that it takes for the situation to sink into the four, Jisung grabs Chenle’s wrist and drags him into the kitchen, locking the door.

“What’s that all about?” Chenle looks up at Jisung curiously. Jisung nudges him over to the counter and does his best to ignore the faces pressed up against the glass on the other side. Chenle gives them all a friendly wave before turning back to Jisung. “What’s this?”

The ‘this’ in question refers to the pizza pan Jisung is grabbing from the table. Flipping the oven open, he scrabbles around a bit before the pan emerges with a pizza sitting prettily on one end.

 _Oh my god,_ Jaemin says. _Jeno, hold me, our son is so cute, I’m literally going to die._

 _This,_ Donghyuck is saying, _is why no one should be allowed behind the ingredients counter but me._

 _You’re just upset you didn’t think of this first,_ Mark snorts.

Jisung clears his throat nervously. “I wanted to spell ‘dinner’ but there was no space, so I hope lunch is okay.” A pause. “Same goes for the question mark. It’s uhm. Implied?”

“Jisung,” Chenle says as he stares at the ‘Lunch 4 2 ♥’ on the pizza. “Yes. Yes a million times.”

 _Well, you know what they say,_ Johnny says, nearly giving six different people heart attacks he appeared so suddenly. _Pizza la vista, baby._

**Author's Note:**

> Hotel Trivago meme: exists in abundance on most nct youtube videos
> 
> Me: writes a fic inspired by the meme
> 
> kidding but also, not really. thank you for reading!!
> 
> in all honestly once a marketing tactic goes viral it kind of transcends any other possible marketing technique and speaking of the virus -
> 
> PLEASE take care during this season, remember to wash your hands for 20 seconds, don't touch your face, spread love and concern to those around you, exercise social distancing, if you're religious keep the world in prayer and if not, keep them in your thoughts, and stay safe.


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